Less Common Birds

These birds are either somewhat uncommon, or their habitat is
a bit removed from the garden / roadside we commonly inhabit. So, to
see the great Indian horned owl or the pond heron, you might have to go a bit
off the beaten track, but
these can be seen in the campus itself. Some others can be seen at
Bithoor.

The pond heron is almost always present when there is water in the
reservoir. It can also be found in Bithur. It is a brownish bird, showing
mostly white (wing and tail
feathers) in flight. The next picture shows a bird that
suddenly alighted
barely a few meters from us. It stood there for a while before flying down
to the water's edge where it sat still for a long time, not catching anything
that I could see. In photo 2681, you see two pond herons flying across the
reservoir, while a brood of night herons can be seen in the tree at the
back.

When there's water in the reservoir, you can usually see a flock of
night herons, sitting on one
of the trees overhanging the water. They don't seem to be very active in the
daytime, but they will fly off if you approach.

Left: Superb image by Prateek Gupta. Right: Herons at roost
(photo: Prithwijit
Guha). Zoom on it to see the pond heron at bottom left.

What used to be called the Great Horned Owl (Bubo Bubo Bengalensis) in Salim
Ali, is now sometimes merged with
The Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo Bubo) (Grimmett). However, some others
(Grewal) maintain the
subspecies distinction between and
bengalensis and hemachalana, calling the first Eurasian Eagle
owl (this is the Himalayan race), and the latter the Rock Eagle Owl. One
characteristic is that the Rock Eagle Owl has streaks on the neck
going down to the belly - which this bird seems to have.

This is a big bird; with a wing span of nearly 2 meters, it is one of the
largest birds on campus.

These two images of the Eagle Owl in flight is from the reservoir, where
three or four eagle owls can often be seen roosting.
Now you won't be surprised to learn that
it is called the Leopard on wings!

One of the reservoir eagle owls, in flight (by Sainath). They have a nearly
2m wingspan, and you can hear their wingbeats from quite far.

I saw these birds on my
lawn, on two days - October 14 and 16, 2006. They would come in a flock of
about a dozen, spread themselves all over the flowering bottlebrush tree, and
feast on the flowers
for at least half an hour, before flying off at some unspoken signal. I
didn't know what they were until I put up this website and Sainath Vellal
ID'd them.

It seems the species is normally resident somewhat more to the south and to
the east of Kanpur.
The Handbook lists them as being south of a "line drawn from Mount Abu to
Dehradun", and Kanpur would certainly be in this zone. Other texts (Grewal)
note that they are normally resident in two bands in the Northeast and the
Southeast, and that they may move in other parts in between. It seems they
are somewhat patchy in their movements and it is
possible that it is only in winter that they
would be visiting Kanpur. Of course, it is possible that this is some other bird,
though this seems unlikely - the ID is due to Sainath, and I find
the colour, shape and behaviour matching rather well. The next picture shows
two birds foraging actively.

This repetitive calling is why he is
called "brainfever bird". The three-note song sounds like chokh-gelo -
which is its Bengali name - meaning "Lost my eyes". It can get on one's
nerves if repeated endlessly (hear it on
YouTube). It's
plumage (and also flight characteristics) are deliberately like a hawk,
which gives it some protection perhaps.

Common hawk-cuckoo.

Like other cuckoos, this bird lays its eggs as a brood parasite, often
with jungle
babbler parents.

This Indian roller dropped in to peep through the windows of the CSE building
offices.
Dana
Ballard, who was visiting from U. Rochester at the time, took this
picture from the corner window in CSE building room 205, circa February
2005.

In flight, the Indian roller is a brilliant mosaic of colour. Sometimes it
is called "Blue Jay", but Indian roller is the more accepted name.
Sometimes you can see an Indian roller near the entrance to the academic
area.

Identified as the Chestnut-shouldered Petronia with help from Ramit Singal. This is the bird, earlier
known as the Yellow-throated Sparrow, which excited the curiosity of a young
boy, who was to become Salim Ali.

On 11 November 2005 around 8 AM, I was walking near the airstrip when a flock
of these - about 40 - descended on the abundantly blooming kAsh flower stalks
beside
the road. The reeds often bent dramatically under their weight. They kept
pecking at the bases of the flowers, presumably that's where the seeds
are.

How do they know where to find the seed, I wondered later. Are they born
with this knowledge? If so, do they know also know each type of plant?
Probably not. But then, if they learn it as babies, then different groups of
munias should exhibit somewhat different behaviours (or cultures). But then,
probably the seeding patterns are rather similar across the plants they
prefer...